IlIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I . 

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f UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. |' 



Xj E T TE 12, 



HON. J. GREGORY SMITH, 

OF VERMONT, 

PRESIDENT OF THE NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD. 

ON THE 

"SAN JUAN" TREATY, 

BY 

' / 

GEORGE GIBBS, 

OF WASHINGTON TERRITORY. ~""^ 



McGiU & WitLerow, Priuters and Steieotypers, 366 E street, VV'asliingtou, J). C. 



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LETTER. 



Washington, February 4, 1869. 
Sir: 

In reply to your letter of yesterday, on the so-called "San 
Juan question," I have to say, that I am utterly opposed to 
Mr. Johnson's convention, referring the title of the island to 
the "President of the Swiss Confederation." 

In the first place, I think it derogatory to the honor of the 
United States to refer the question at all. The joint occu- 
pation of the territory on the Pacific was terminated by the 
treaty of 1846, the line of the 49th parallel being adopted as 
the basis; but as this line, prolonged to the sea, would cut off 
a part of Vancouver Island, Mr. Buchanan fatally consented 
to deflect it through the Gulf of Georgia and the Strait of 
Fuca, using the words, "the middle of the channel which sep- 
arates the continent from Vancouver's Island." It was per- 
fectly well understood at the time that the compact group of 
intermediate islands of which San Juan is one, and which lies 
entirely south of the 49th parallel, would belong to the United 
States; and Mr. Benton expressly referred to the fact in the 
debate when urging the ratification of the treaty. Subse- 
quently, however, the British, with whom it seems impossible 
to make a treaty that shall be a finality, started the claim to 
the entire group, insisting that the comparatively insignificant 
Canal de Rosario, which merely separates the continent from 
those smaller islands, was to be taken as the one "which sep- 
arates the continent from Vancouver's Island," instead of the 
larger and deeper Canal de Haro, lying nearer to Vancouver 
Island. Their motive was obvious enough. They saw that 
this group, taken together, could be completely fortified ; that 
in its land-locked harbors all the navies of the world could lie 
safely, and that the United States would then possess a naval 
position, covering at once the Gulf of Georgia, Fuca Strait, 



and Puget's Sound, thus holding England in check in those 
waters. 

On the whole line of our coast, from San Diejio to the Strait 
of Fuca, San Francisco is the only harbor at once accessible 
and defensible. The ownership of the southern end of Van- 
couver Island gave to Great Britain Barclay Sound, one side 
of the Strait of Fuca, with the admirable harbor of Esquimalt, 
and the islands of the Saturna group, bordering the easterly 
side of Vancouver Island. The islands nearer the continent, 
of which San Juan is the most western, are our only protection 
against this immense advantage, and this she wishes to deprive 
us of. 

Great Britain, in fact, seems to think herself entitled to all 
the strategic points of the world. Malta and Gibraltar and 
the Cape of Good Hope are but instances of this grasping 
spirit of dominion. If we now give up our position on the 
Gulf of Georgia, the Sandwich Islands will be the next 
point coveted. She knows well that this great inlet, the 
Strait of Fuca, and the waters opening into it, Puget's Sound, 
and the Gulf of Georgia, must be the commercial centre of 
the North Pacific. So far it has had no development, except 
as the source from which the lumber of the countries bordering 
on that ocean has been obtained. But it is the nearest point 
to China and Japan; it is the nearest point to the Canadas, 
to New England, and to New York. The Power that owns it 
will control absolutely, by its interior railroads, the trade of 
one third of the continent, independent of that of Asia. If 
the United States carries through this enterprise of the 
Northern Pacific Railroad, Great Britain will not undertake 
another route, or if she does, it will be a failure. In the ac- 
quisition of Alaska, an act of statesmanship second only to 
the purchase of Louisiana, we have flanked the British terri- 
tories on the north. I trust we shall not lose the vantage- 
ground thus obtained. 

The idea undoubtedly existing in the minds of those who 
put forth this claim was, that sooner than make the subject 
an occasion of war, we would compromise by the adoption of 
an intermediate line, the channel known on our maps as "Pres- 
ident's Passage," which separates San Juau from Orcas and 



Lopez islands, and in this way they would break the continuity 
of the chain, and in fact steal the key of the lock. They 
hoped also to gain the cession of Point Roberts, a part of the 
continent falling south of the parallel, and a commanding posi- 
tion on the Gulf of Georgia, near the entrance to Fraser river. 

The danger of war was a bug-bear. It is now known that, 
when the original treaty was made, the British government 
would have yielded the whole of Vancouver Island rather than 
Sght; and that later, if firmly met, she would have receded 
from her claim to the San Juan group. The movement of 
General Harney, in taking military possession of San Juan, 
was the right one. There was a vast deal of bluster and 
threatening on the part of the British, but there would have 
been no fighting to get possession of it; but Mr. Buchanan, 
then President, made another fatal mistake. He sent out 
General Scott to compromise once more, and a new joint 
occupation was agreed upon. The duplicity of the British 
in this matter was shown during the joint survey of the north- 
west boundary. While the American commissioner, Mr. Arch- 
ibald Campbell, had full powers to settle the line, his English 
colleague. Captain Prevost, of the British navy, had secret 
instructions not to settle unless San Juan Island was yielded, 
and the negotiations were continued for months in vain be- 
fore the reason leaked out. 

The idea seems to prevail, that England, becoming indifi'erent 
to the possession of these western territories, only wants to 
be "let down gracefully." This mistake will prove as ruinous 
as the others. She never was more determined to hold on to 
these points than now. If she is to lose h'er possessions on 
the Pacific, as she must eventually, she wishes to make us 
pay the heaviest penalty for the acquisition. She will get 
all the higher price for holding San Juan and Point Roberts. 
The Reverdy Johnson treaty shows this in every line. The 
question of the true construction of the treaty of 1846 is not 
the one submitted. The story is told in the second and in the 
separate articles. The second article reads thus: 

"If the referee should be unable to ascertain and determine 
the precise line intended by the words of the treaty, it is 
agreed that it shall be left to him to determine upon some line 



which, in his opinion, will furnish an equitable solution of the 
difficulty, and will be the nearest approximation that can be 
made to the accurate construction of the treaty." 

And the "separate article" (a perfect anomaly in diplom- 
acy) provides, that this treaty shall not go into operation or 
have any effect until the question of naturalization, now 
pending, shall have been satisfactorily settled. If that does 
not mean that San Juan Island (and Point Roberts too) is 
to be given up as a consideration for the naturalization 
treaty, it has no meaning. 

The settlement of this question is left to the arbitration of 
the "President of the Swiss Confederation." We might 
well hesitate at the submission of so important a matter to a 
person of whose functions and abilities we know nothing, who 
may or may not be a lawyer or a statesman. But what 
shall we say when we find that there is no such person in ex- 
istence ? There is no " President of the Swiss Confederation." 
There are presidents of the Conscil National, of the Conseil 
des Etats, and of the Conseil Federal ; three presidents after 
a fashion : that is, presiding officers of three different bodies, 
who are elected annually. But to which of them is this sub- 
ject submitted? Is it to President Kaiser, of Soleure, to 
President ^ppli, of St. Gall, or to President Dubs, of 
Zurich ? 

And why was it not submitted (if there is to be any submis- 
sion) as a question, pure and simple, of the interpretation of 
the treaty of 1846? Are we to compromise every fresh claim 
that Great Britain may set up on any occasion by a new con- 
cession ? If there is a real doubt about the true intent and 
meaning of that treaty, let us submit it as such, and submit 
it to some authority, high enough, learned enough, and re- 
sponsible enough, to decide it at once. 

Submit it for example to the consideration of some body of 
jurists of eminence and character: to the "Court of Cassa- 
tion" of France, the ultimate law court of appeals of the 
French empire ; to the faculties of law of Heidelberg or Ber- 
lin, rather than to any sovereign, or potentate, or president, 
who may be governed by ideas of what is politic, or of what 
is "equitable." Such a reference would be, it is true, a 



novelty in the affairs of nations ; but we have a parallel in 
the jurisdiction of our own Supreme Court. One hears there, 
as the great French jurist de Tocqueville remarked with ad- 
miration, the cause called (for example) of the State of Mas- 
sachusetts vs. the State of New York. Why not, then, in a 
case like this, of the interpretation of a treaty, or, as in that 
of the Alabama claims, one of the interpretation of inter- 
national obligations, submit it to such courts? Our own 
Supreme Court might, in like manner, be the arbiter between 
other nations. 

Whether or not the Court of Cassation would assume this 
oiEce, of course I do not know; I merely present the sugges- 
tion ; but if it did, its intervention would elevate the consid- 
eration of the great courts of justice throughout the civilized 
world, and would lessen the danger of wars, springing from 
the uncertainty of diplomatic controversy, and from the inter- 
ests or prejudices of rulers. 

So far as the Northern Pacific Railroad is concerned, one of 
its western termini must ultimately be on Puget's Sound, and 
it will never do to leave it entirely under British guns. More 
than that, the command of the Sound involves that of the Co- 
lumbia River, for two days' march from its head would carry a 
hostile force to the mouth of the Cowlitz, with no possible ob- 
struction, except such an interior line of forts as the Govern- 
ment never would consent to keep up, and the population of 
the country would not justify. It is far better even to leave 
the island as it stands, in joint occupation, until we are ready 
to take it. 

I have said nothing on the importance of the route of the 
Northern Pacific Railroad; that must speak for itself. Its 
completion is the conquest of British America. What is called 
" the Fertile Belt," the country of the Saskatchawan and the 
Red River of the north, becomes ex necessitate rei an appanage 
of the United States by its construction. Its eastern termi- 
nus is of course the city of New York, which thenceforth su- 
persedes London as the commercial capital of the world. 
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

GEORGE GIBBS. 
Hon. J. Gregory Smith. 



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